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Early modern architecture : Chicago,Early modern architecture : Chicago,1870-19101870-1910
CHRON0LOGY OF THE TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT C? ̂jE__SKfSC_RAFER
The tall commercial building, early labelled the sky
scraper, was the most conspicuous achievement of American
architecture in the second half of the nineteenth century.
In the creation of the skyscraper several compli
mentary lines of technical development joined. First, in the
fifties , iron skeleton construction was often used to replace
masonry bearing walls, sometimes in the interior of the build
ing, sometimes as an ornamental cast iron facade. Then, with
the introduction of the elevator, buildings higher than six
stories became convenient and acceptable. At the same time,
methods of fireproofing the metal skeleton were invented in
New York, and effective pier foundations developed in Chicago.
Finally, in Chicago, by the late eighties, the protective
masonry shell came to be carried by the metal framework in
which Bessemer steel replaced cast and wrought iron. The
skyscraper, imminent for more than a generation, thus became
an actuality.
Bibliography: "Buffington and the Skyscraper". E. M. Upjohn_iu-LJ. g p y ^ Art&Bulletin5 Vol> XVn , No. 1, March 1935,
pp 48-70.
"Was the Home Insurance Building in Chicago theFirst Skyscraper of Skeleton Construction;Thomas E. Tallmadge. The Architectural Record,Vol. 76, No. 2, August 1934, pp 113-118.
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1848
1851
1851-65
1853
1854
1855
1859
1862
1868
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Bogardus Building, Duane Street, New York, byBogardus. Now demolished
First use of cast iron facade.
Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London, by FaxtonDestroyed by fire, 1936
First structure entirely of iron and glass .
Dome of Capitol, Washington, D.C., by Thomas U,Walter
Built of cast iron.
New York Crystal Falace (in imitation of Faxton s)Now demolished
First passenger elevator in America.
Harper's Building, Franklin Square, New YorkNow demolished
Introduction of wrought iron girders.
Invention in England of Bessemer's converter forproducing superior wrought iron known as "Steel .
Fifth Avenue Hotel, New YorkNow demolished
Passenger elevator first used in a permanentbuilding.
Siemens' invention in Germany of the Open HearthProcess for steel.
Equitable Life Assurance Society Building, Broadway, New York. Now demolished
First office building with elevator.
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1871 Fire-resistant hollow-tile floor for use withwrought iron "beams patented by Balthasar Kreiscner.
1873 Introduction into America of Bessemer steel byCarnegie.
1880 Price of land in Chicago Loop district reaches$130,000. per quarter acre, thus encouraginghigher buildings. Compare 1890.
1881
1881
Buffington's dreams of metal "cloud-scrapers11based on Viollet-le-Duc1s ideas.
Montauk Building, Chicago, by Burnham & Root
Introduction of separate spread foundations forseparate piers.
1884-85 Home Insurance Building, Chicago, by JenneyDemolished, 1931
Usually considered the first skyscraper. /eightcarried largely by framework of cast and wroughtiron concealed inside the masonry. Bessemer steelbeams first used here above the sixth floor.
1886 Rookery Building, Chicago, by Burnham & Root
Same construction as Home Insurance Building. Newtype of foundation of railroad steel in concrete.
1887-88 Tacoma Building, Chicago, by Holabird & RocheDemolished, 1929
Often considered the first skyscraper. All thestructural potentialities of metal frame con- _struction are implicit, but the iron skeleton iscalled upon to carry less than half the weightof the building.
1888-89 Pulitzer Building, New York, by George B. Post
At the time of its erection, the highest ouild-ing in the world (349 feet). Masonry walls,interior piers of cast iron.
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1889 Tower Building, New York, by Bradford Lee GilbertNow demolished
First use of metal skeleton of true skyscrapertype in New York.
1889 Rand-McNally Building, Chicago, by Burnham & Root
Rolled steel beams and columns of standard bridgeshapes riveted together as still used today.
1889-90 Second Leiter Building, Chicago, by Jenney
First building in which all the walls are supported by the internal metal skeleton.
1890 Monadnock Block, Chicago, by Burnham & Root
Last tall building with solid masonry bearingwalls. Sixteen stories .
1890 Frice of land in Chicago Loop district $90C,000per quarter acre. Compare 1880
High buildings encouraged by high land valuesforce land values ever higher.
1891 "Skyscraper - a very tall building such as noware being built in Chicago"
- Maitland's American SlangDictionary
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CKRQNCLOGY OF THE AESTHETIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE SKYSCRAPER
Original design in the skyscraper did not keep pace
with new developments in construction. The facades of the
early experimental buildings in the late seventies and
eighties (#4 especially), although often more honest in the
expression of skeleton construction than many more modern
buildings, were appallingly crude. Yet it was their frank
emphasis on wide-windowed horizontality that fore-shadowed
such developed skyscraper design as in the Schlesinger-Mayer
Building (#22) and Gage Building (#23).
But the building which initiated a new spirit in com
mercial design was Richardson's masonry Marshall Field /hole-
sale Store (#7). Deriving at first his inspiration from the
Romanesque, Richardson in his later work reached a highly
original and pure expression of masonry construction adapted
either to residence or commercial design. The Marshall Field
Wholesale Store provided for the young Chicago architects an
aesthetic discipline of regularity and simplicity from which
Sullivan rapidly created a new personal style.
The influence of Sullivan's style was so great that
it attracted a group of young architects who formed under his
leadership the Chicago School.
The free non-traditional architecture of the Chicago
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School retained its vigor until about 1910 when the stylistic
revivalism which had made its first striking appearance in
Chicago with the World's Fair of 1893, vitiated its force.
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1874-75 Cheney Building (now Brown-Thompson Co.), Hartford, Conn., "by Richardson.
A personal interpretation of Romanesque designapplied to commercial architecture.
1879 Leiter Building I, Chicago, by Jenney.
Non-stylistic expression of mixed masonry andcast iron construction.
1882
1885-86
Ames Building, Kingston and Bedford Sts . , Boston,by Richardson. Replaced in 1892.
Further simplification of the RichardsonianRomanesque.
Marshall Field 'Vholesale Store, Chicago, byRichardson. Demolished 1930.
The masterpiece of early commercial architecturein masonry.
1886 The Rookery, Chicago, by Burnham & Root.
Unintelligent application of RichardsonianRomanesque. Uninfluenced by Marshall Field Mholesale Store.
1886 Fray Building, Boston, by Richardson.
Furthest development of Richardson's commercialstyle. Shallow reveals and light spandrels atstory levels.
1887-88 Tacoma Building, Chicago, by Holabird & Roche.Demolished, 1929.
General scheme uninfluenced by masonry design,though detail is slightly Richardsonian.
1887-89 Auditorium Building, Chicago, by Adler & Sullivan.
Strongly under the influence of Richardson'smasonry Marshall Field Wholesale Store. In thetower appear the beginnings of Sullivan's morepersonal expression. Compare Walker Warehouse (#18).
1889-90 Leiter Building II, Chicago, by Jenney.
A direct development from Jenney's f̂irst LeiterBuilding (#4) in its clear expression of structure.Influenced in detail and general sense of iorm ythe Marshall Field Wholesale Store.
1890-91 Monadnock Block, Chicago, by Burnham & Root.
Rigidly simplified masonry design with Richard-sonian sense of form.
1891-92 Wainwright Building, St.Louis, by Adler & Sullivan.
Sullivan's vertical type of skyscraper design herefully developed for the first time. CompareSchiller Building (#20).
1893
1899
Meyer Building, Chicago, by Adler & Sullivan.
Sullivan's more logical horizontal type of skyscraper design preserving wide fenestration oiJenney's Leiter Building I (#4).
Schlesinger-Mayer Building (now Carson FirieScott & Co.), Chicago, by Sullivan.
Further development of wide-windowed design, withnarrow supports and spandrels veneered with terracotta.
1900-10 The heyday of the Chicago School under the inspiration of Sullivan's work of the previousdecade.
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LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS WITH COMMENTS
1. 33 SOUTH FRANKLIN STREET (corner of Monroe Street),Chicago. c. 1872.
This building retains the dignity and good proportions of
the Classical Revival. The simple masonry post and lintel
construction is clearly expressed in the design.Cast iron
posts are used only in certain bays on the ground floor.
2. 221-227 WEST RANDOLPH STREET, Chicago. 1880.
Unusually large window area for masonry construction.
Cast iron posts on the ground floor only. The elegance
of extreme simplicity is still reminiscent of the Greek
Revival.
3. WILLOUGHBY BUILDING, Jackson and Monroe Streets (northeast corner) Chicago. 1884.
Structurally a great advance: the use of wrought and cast
iron instead of masonry walls permits building higher
without sacrificing light on the lower stories. ihe pe
culiar ornament is ambitious in its originality, but no
more appropriate to the new material than traditional
forms.
4. WILLIAM LE BARON JENNEY . _ Qr?0LEITER BUILDING I, 200 West Monroe Street, Chicago. 18/y.Two stories added later.
An important step toward the skyscraper: the use of cast
iron posts between the masonry piers introduces more
light. The design is crude, but the general horizontal
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ordering foreshadows the more finished designs of the
later steel skyscrapers. Compare with the Schlesinger-
Meyer Building (#22).
5. WILLIAM LE BARON JENNEYHOME INSURANCE BUILDING, Chicago. 1884-85. Two storiesadded, 1890. Demolished, 1931.
The crucial step in the creation of the skyscraper. The
metal skeleton supports all the weight of the "building
except the exterior masonry walls which are partially
self supporting. Above the second floor in the masonry
piers between the windows are iron columns which
strengthen the piers. This added strength makes it pos
sible to diminish the width of the piers and increase the
width of the windows. Part of the weight of the exterior
masonry is carried by the metal frame. In principle the
building has ceased to be a crustacean (chief support by
masonry shell) and is already implicitly a vertebrate
(chief support by skeleton, including support of exterior
walls). Jenney did not yet realize the revolutionary
quality of the device he had employed above the second
floor.
For the first time in America, Bessemer steel is intro
duced in place of wrought iron above the sixth floor. The
importance of the building lies entirely in the construc
increased light achieved in the first Leiter Building
(#4).
LOUIS SULLIVAN ^ „ ,SCHLESINGER-MEYER BUILDING (Now CARSON PIRIE SCOTT & CO.)State and Madison Streets, Chicago. First section 1899.Second section 1903-04.
A further development of the horizontal window treatment.
The sense of an exterior wall has disappeared. There re
mains only a grille of vertical columns and horizontal
beams, sheathed in terra cotta for fireproofing. The or
namental incrustation on the lower stories is typical of
Sullivan.
LOUIS SULLIVAN _ . QOCGAGE BUILDING, 18 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago. 189...
Note: Only the facade on the right (Gage Building) is by
Sullivan. The two facades on the left as well as the
structure of all three buildings are by HOLABIRD & ROCHE.
The structure of all three buildings is clearly revealed
in the facades. The difference between Sullivan's facade
and the other two is that between the studied proportions
of fine architecture and ordinary structural honesty.
HOLABIRD & ROCHE ^ , , ... , .CABLE BUILDING, southeast corner of Jackson and waoasnStreets , Chicago. 1899.
The Chicago formula of skyscraper design used without
great distinction. But even such ordinary Chicago work
is more significant than the architectural revivalism